Tag Archives: Southern Literature

So I visited Whistle Stop….

Posted on April 19, 2024 by smellincoffee

Yesterday after a library conference (at which I was the only male attendee) I bolted over to Macon, GA, to hear one of my favorite musicians play. I was able to give her my librarian compliment (telling her I appreciated … Continue reading →

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The World’s Largest Man

Posted on February 24, 2024 by smellincoffee

When Harrison Scott Key was young, his father opted to uproot the family from Memphis and moved to an old farmstead out in the country – -the reason being, a boy needed to grow up outdoors doing things. Harrison did … Continue reading →

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A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories

Posted on February 13, 2024 by smellincoffee

I was introduced to Flannery O’Connor perhaps twenty years ago when taking English 101 & English 102 at the community college, and I have never quite forgotten the two stories we discussed — “A Good Man is Hard to Find” … Continue reading →

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Visiting with Huey on the Mississippi

Posted on December 18, 2023 by smellincoffee

Good morning from the Mississippi river. For the last few days I’ve been in Natchez, enjoying the sights of a rare southern town that has not lost its soul to Progress: its city streets are marked by people and shops, not … Continue reading →

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Will the Circle Be Unbroken?

Posted on April 25, 2023 by smellincoffee

Will the Circle Be Unbroken? A Memoir of Learning to Believe You’re Gonna be Ok© 2020 Sean Dietrich261 pages A memoir about a boy growing up in the deep shadow cast by his father’s suicide has no right to be … Continue reading →

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The Other Side of the Bay

Posted on March 8, 2023 by smellincoffee

The Other Side of the Bay© 2014 Sean Dietrich177 pages There’s a broken down  truck in the woods holding three men,  two drunk brothers and a passed-out football has-been.   By morning, the truck will be discovered in perfect working … Continue reading →

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Whistling Dixie

Posted on February 4, 2023 by smellincoffee

Sean of the South: Whistling Dixie© 2015 Sean Dietrich198 pages A few weeks back I read The South’s Okayest Writer, a collection of articles by Sean Dietrich. Whistling Dixie is very similar in content and in theme, as this also … Continue reading →

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The South’s Okayest Writer

Posted on January 30, 2023 by smellincoffee

The South’s Okayest Writer: The Adventures of a Boy Columnist© 2018 Sean Dietrich241 pages There is a Japanese art, kintsugi, of putting broken pieces of pottery back together again with gilded paint, with the result that the repaired object is … Continue reading →

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The Incredible Winston Browne

Posted on January 23, 2023 by smellincoffee

The Incredible Winston Browne© Sean Dietrich 2021 352 pages In a little place called Moab,  a man is dying. His name is Winston Browne, and he’s a man who lives with regrets, memories of a love gone awry, of an … Continue reading →

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A year’s end…

Posted on December 28, 2022 by smellincoffee

Welcome to the liminal space between  the years, as we all recover from Christmas and brace ourselves for a weekend full of fireworks.  Reading activity is definitely ebbing down for me,  and has been for much of December — I’ve … Continue reading →

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